


Curiosity (Interlude # 2)

by notjustmom



Series: Box of 64 [55]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 22:27:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15850674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: Rosie meets Eurus. Rosie is in her twenties.





	Curiosity (Interlude # 2)

**Author's Note:**

> This scene popped into my head, not my normal fluff, but wanted to see what would happen if an older Eurus met an adult Rosie...

Rosie stood as Eurus entered the room, and met her questioning, but not unfriendly gaze.

"You're curious about me, why?" Eurus asked as she sat down at the table. "I'd offer you tea, but it's quite awful, to be honest."

Rosie smiled as she settled into her chair and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"We aren't related by blood, so genetically speaking, you are quite safe from becoming anything like me, so why exactly did you ask for this meeting? I suppose I was quite the elephant in the room as you were growing up - yes, that's what it is. You knew your Da would go on trips without your father and come back different for a while, and he didn't explain until -"

"I was sixteen." Rosie wondered that her voice sounded normal to her own ears, but had the idea that Eurus knew better.

"And you are now, let me see, don't tell me... twenty-four."

"You told him to stop visiting you, then, and he was trying to understand, so he told me about you, he doesn't work cases any more, so you are his last great puzzle, and -"

Eurus narrowed her eyes at her, then shrugged. "You wanted to meet your Da's bogeyman. Wanted to see -"

"Wanted to thank you."

"Thank me."

"The night you visited him, as Faith, when you gave him the Culverton Smith case. I know you saved him that night -"

"He gives me far too much credit, Ro. I was curious. I wanted to study him, see what he would do, given a certain set of circumstances, essentially he was a lab rat -"

"You are lying."

"Yes."

"You asked him to stop visiting because he had become important to you, not because he had done or said something, but you had started to care for him, and you would miss him when he would leave."

Eurus crossed her arms, looked into Rosie's dark blue eyes, and cleared her throat before speaking. "If things had been different - if I had been different - I do know how different I am, not just because of where I have lived most of my life, but I knew early on that I was born incapable of making attachments, incapable of feeling things the way other people do, until that night when I visited him. I knew he was destroying himself because he was incapable of not feeling - your father, from the day their paths crossed, gave him that gift and that curse, your father looked beyond the layers he had built up, and found a good man, a man capable of great love. It is why I left him on the bridge that morning, and why I created a test for him later, I wanted to study that goodness, see how far that goodness would take him before it destroyed him."

Rosie nodded, and waited for her to go on.

"I realised he was necessary; there are very people in the world who are actually necessary. He was and is needed, because he can look evil in the face, see through it and not look away. I sent him away, because he had seen through me, and that changed me, his unconditional love came too late for me, Rosie. I think you understand that better than most, my dear. You grew up with that love, and you knew early on that you would have been quite different without it, didn't you? He doesn't know you are here, does he?"

"No."

"You wanted to see what you might have become, you needed to be sure you were nothing like me, because you want to raise a child with your partner, and you want to be sure you are more your fathers' child than your mother's."

"Yes."

"I think the fact that you are here should tell you all you need to know; you were afraid, and yet you still managed to cut through the miles of red tape to sit in a room with me. You are definitely your fathers' child, but you already knew that, deep down, you knew, but you needed to see if you were strong enough to face your biggest fear. You have passed, my dear. Flying colours. Now, if you do decide to tell him that you saw me, tell him he was right about me and he'll understand."

Rosie pushed back from the table and stood up. "I will let him know."

"Thank you. Have an interesting life, Rosie Watson."

"I will. I do." 

"I know."

 

"Ro? Were we expecting you?"

"No."

Sherlock looked her over and shook his head. "You visited her."

"Needed to."

Sherlock nodded at her. "Yes. I know."

"She said to tell you that you were right about her." She watched his eyes change for just a moment, then he gave her that smile that he used to give her when she had done something brilliant as a child. 

"Thank you, Ro. I hope you found the answer you were looking for?"

"Yes, Da. I did." She stood up and walked over to him, kissed his cheek and asked quietly, "Lily and I will come on Friday and stay the weekend if that's alright with you and Papa?"

"Of course." He smiled up at her and she grinned back at him. "You know you are always welcome here."

 

July 2, 203-

E-

Thank you for seeing her. I hope you received the recording I sent you last month. I have learned not to expect a response, but just remember I'm here if you change your mind. 

-S


End file.
